Mechanical oscillating device



Jan. 14, 1969 W. C. BERRY, JR

MECHANICAL OSCILLATING DEVICE Filed June 19, 1967 INVENTOR $4071.72? c. m g, 3-

United States Patent 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanical oscillating device for attachment to a canting roll of a tow piddler, providing uniform lateral traverse of a tow into a canister.

Background of invention Field of the invention.-This invention relates to an improved apparatus for accomplishing uniform deposition of a continuous, filamentary tow. The apparatus with which the present invention is associated is disclosed in a copending United States application, to the assignee herein, Ser. No. 572,334, filed Aug. 15, 1966, now Patent No. 3,377,675. The disclosure of said copending application is incorporated herewith to facilitate comprehension of the instant invention.

Prior art-The said copending application describes novel means for deposition of tow in which only rotating rolls and gravity are employed for deposition of the tow. Longitudinally traversing forwarding rolls are used to accomplish longitudinal distribution; lateral distribution is attained by reciprocally canting a preceding forwardly roll through a predetermined angle around an attitude in which the roll axis is perpendicular to the tow path. Since the tow tends to approach the canting roll perpendicularly, the canting action resulting in oscillation of the tow laterally, accomplishing lateral traverse on the succeeding longitudinally traversing rolls.

To accomplish uniform tow deposition the lateral motion of the tow on the longitudinally traversing rolls must, of course, be uniform. The development of an oscillating rotary motion which is commensurate with a uniform lateral motion has heretofore required carefully designed cam structures. The instant invention solves the critical design problem with a simple and novel oscillating apparatus. No anticipatory prior art is known which would negate the novel features disclosed herein.

Summary of the invention The subject invention resides in an apparatus for imparting uniform lateral motion to a rope by a canting roll comprising: (a) a first shaft capable of rotation about its axis, (b) a canting roll rotatably attached to a yoke, the yoke being fixedly attached to the first shaft to position the axis of the roll perpendicular to a plane defined by the axis of the first shaft and a given point, (e) a first gear concentrically and rigidly mounted on the first shaft, ((1) a second gear mounted axially parallel to and operatively engaging the first gear, the second gear being mounted on a second shaft which is rigidly fixed relative to the first shaft, (e) a bar rigidly and angularly attached to the second shaft, and (f) oscillating means for oscillating said bar through a given angle.

Brief description of drawings FIGURE 1 is a schematic perspective illustration of a canting roll and the oscillating apparatus of the present invention.

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FIGURE 2 is a schematic plan view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1 showing distance and angular relationships.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring to FIGURE 1, canting roll 5 is rotatably attached to yoke 16. A section of continuous, filamentary tow is shown traversing the top of roll 5. Yoke 16 is rigidly attached to shaft 15 which in turn is rotatably fixed in a frame (not shown). A gear 1 is, rigidly and concentrically attached to shaft 15 and is operatively engaged by a second gear 10*. Gear 10, in the preferred embodiment has an effective diameter of one-half that of gear '1. Gear 10 is attached to a shaft 14 which is rotatably fixed relative to shaft 15. A bar 9 is attached to shaft 14 and gear 10. The bar can either be integrally attached to gear 10 or to shaft 14. In the latter case, gear 10 must be rigidly attached to shaft 14. Bar 9 has attached thereto at the opposite extremity of its attachment to gear 10' a pin '17 which engages slot '12 in plate or cam 8. Plate 8 is reciprocated along a linear path by piston arm 7 and fluid-actuated cylinder 6.

A complete understanding of the geometrical relationship of canting roll movement of the actuation apparatus can be obtained by reference to FIGURE 2 and the following description. The normal tow path from the last fixed guide to the canting roll is represented as 20. This is the path followed when the canting roll is oriented with its axis along line 21. An alternative tow path is illustrated at 22, which is the path the tow will follow when the canting roll is rotated so that its axis lies along line 23. The canting roll is schematically illustrated as 5. This roll is canted in this embodiment by fluid-driven cylinder 6 through shaft 7, slotted member 8, linking member 9 and gear 10 which drives gear 11. Canting roll 5 is operably attached to gear 11 as shown in FIGURE 1. Gear 10 is one-half the effective diameter of gear 11; therefore gear '10 must rotate through twice the angle desired in gear 11. That this will yield a uniform traverse can clearly be seen from the following relationships:

L sin 0 HD T 0 (II) From the product of I and II, it is seen that T=sin 0 cos 0 HD (III) which, from the formula sin 20:2 sin0cos0 can be written:

= /2 sin 20 HD (IV) But sin 20=M/L; therefore,

1 a 1 1 2 T- L HD- L M T =(constant) M It is seen from the above that the simple 2/1 relationship of gears 11 and 10 results in a uniform distribution along the line T with uniform speed of shaft 7, thereby circumventing the need for cam development in this installation. It will also be apparent that intentional deviation from uniform distribution can be attained by varying the speed of shaft 7 by means available in the art as may be dictated by special needs.

Although a single preferred embodiment has been disclosed, equivalent substitutions can be effected without varying from the spirit of the invention or scope of the annexed claims.

3 What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus for imparting oscillatory motion to a canting roll comprising:

(a) a first shaft capable of rotation about its axis,

(b) a canting roll rotatably attached to a yoke, said 5 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said oscillating means is a fluid-driven cylinder and piston operatively attached to said bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,722,415 11/1955 Wood 22623 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,059,559 2/ 1967 Great Britain.

FRED C. MATTERN, JR., Primary Examiner.

15 FRANCIS D. SHOEMAKER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 74-104 

